Cloudy skies keep mercury in check, patchy rains ahead in Delhi city

NEW DELHI: Overcast skies and moderate showers in some parts of the national capital on Friday kept the heat and humidity in check. Delhi is likely to get patchy rainfall till July 26, state weather department 
officials said. 

As per India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, on Friday, while Safdarjung, Delhi’s base station received only 7.5mm mm rain till 8:30 pm, some weather stations recorded good spells of rain. Delhi Ridge received 40.2 mm rain, Delhi University station received 37 mm rain, Pusa recorded 6.5 mm rain while Lodhi Road got 5.6 mm, Aya Nagar got 0.7 mm rain, Palam got 0.2 mm rain and Gurgaon received only traces. 

The maximum temperature was 33.9 degrees C, a notch below normal for this time of the year while the minimum temperature settled at 27 degrees C. The IMD said the monsoon trough is likely to stay over northwest India for the next three days, and ‘light to moderate ‘ showers will continue in the region until Sunday.

IMD officials have forecast light to moderate rain across the city over the weekend. “Rainfall is likely to continue over Delhi-NCR till around July 25-26, however, it is likely to be light to moderate only, as heavy intensity spells occur only when the monsoon trough shifts even closer to Delhi. At present, the axis is in North of the capital, is where rainfall is likely to continue over the next three days,” said a senior IMD official. 

Even though Delhi received only two good spells of rain on June 30 and July 1, when the onset of monsoon was announced in Delhi. On Wednesday when the city received 52.4 mm rainfall while Palam got 94 mm rain. The city has no rainfall deficit and has already covered the monthly normal of 210mm rain.